Media Stage On Ice!

Last week, our crew once again teamed up with our partners at the Florida Panthers for their Media Day. We provided many elements of the on-ice set where the gladiator and promo shots were taken of the players for both in-game and TV broadcast use during the upcoming season.

The shoot was a full two days between the load-in and show/strike days. The set we built consisted of a 14’ x 20’ wide screen onto which our 22,000-lumen projector displayed high res, 4K video content provided by the team.

Our lighting techs built and suspended a truss structure up onto Sumner lifts to position two types of moving lights: Mac Auras and Quantums. These allowed for multiple special effects to light up the players with different looks throughout the day… incorporating a lot of red, of course!

The most unique part of the set was a makeshift pool. We sourced a pond liner that was placed within a wooden frame and then filled with about four inches of water on the morning of the shoot. This provided two very eye-catching effects: a reflection of the projected images, and also allowed the players to splash the water with their sticks to create some movement in the shots.

All of this was captured with a techno-crane camera. The jib style of this machine allowed for quick panning and intricate zoom capabilities to shoot the players from many unique vantage points. Now we are just excited to see how these shots came to life throughout the season!

The production crew led by Dennis Docil at the Panthers is second to none; a huge “thank you” to them for the opportunity to collaborate again.

Media Day was actually a double duty job for us this time around. In addition to our work with the team, we also provided videography, audio, lighting and grip support for Bally Sports Florida, the regional broadcast partner of the Florida Panthers. We added this AV support into two of their rooms at the arena: one for their Miami Mic’d Up Podcast and one for marketing liners and interview questions with the players.

We have some other fun projects to share in partnership with Bally Sports Florida/Bally Sports Sun coming up, too – so stay tuned for that.

Now let’s drop that puck!!!